Where the Super Bowl will be won and lost

In terms of preseason betting odds, this is the most unlikely Super Bowl game in years, but there’s no denying that the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots deserve to be here.

Both men showed different strengths and weaknesses, but throughout an unpredictable season, they enjoyed long winning streaks and showed enviable consistency.

The Seahawks are 4.5-point favorites in Santa Clara, but numbers-wise there’s not much between them, so expect this one to be close.

It could come down to a play here, a play there and perhaps the slimmest of margins making the biggest of differences – the Super Bowl can be won and lost in the blink of an eye.

So let’s see how the two teams will face off, what the key battles will be, and where exactly Super Bowl 60 will be decided.

The History of the Band: How the Sides Compare

Sam Darnold of the Seattle Seahawks and Drake Maye of the New England Patriots before the Super Bowl — Sam Darnold and Drake Maye will both feel the pressure when they meet at the Super Bowl (Getty Images)

Both teams finished 14-3, won eight away games and developed a serious winning habit.

The Patriots have lost their three games by 19 total points and the Seahawks have lost theirs by just nine total, so they are both tough to beat.

This is the first Super Bowl meeting between two teams that finished with top four offenses and defenses, showing how well balanced they are.

New England scored only seven more points than Seattle while finishing second and third on offense, while the Seahawks had the league’s best defense.

The Pats locked him down in the playoffs, though. Despite scoring its fewest points ever in three playoff games (54), the defense allowed only 26 points, the second-fewest total ever, to advance to the Super Bowl.

Seattle blew away the 49ers, then won a shootout with the Rams, and with top players and a fast-paced offense, they should have the firepower to win another one.

The Pats will look for a tense, tight defensive battle in an effort to win a record seventh Lombardi Trophy.

Playmakers: Quarterbacks, the key to success

The term “game manager” has become an insult to modern quarterbacks, but it’s exactly what you need to win a Super Bowl – especially this Super Bowl with two defenses that have given up an average of just over 17 points per game this season.

Drake Maye is trying to become the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl and had a surgical sophomore season setting accuracy records that even Tom Brady couldn’t match.

Sam Darnold’s ultimate redemption story could take him from worst to first, but even after a superb performance to get Seattle here, there are still some doubters.

Both will therefore have to deal with the pressure of the immense occasion and also of two opposing defenses which will pursue them. How they handle this will be key.

Maye’s antidote will be his running ability. Off the knees, he’s gained 6.13 yards per carry this season and with 12 of his 16 playoff runs going for a touchdown or first down, he’s used in those vital moments.

Seattle needs to find a way to bottle it.

Darnold is not a runner, but he can count on the league’s best receiver, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, when stressed, and his arm talent is now undeniable. So is his temperament after nine winning drives over the past two seasons.

Neither will have felt such pressure and with strong defenses behind them, there is no immediate need to play the hero. Whoever manages the game best will hoist the Lombardi.

The game changer: avoid reversals at all costs

Teams that have won the turnover battle in the Super Bowl are 40-7. Enough said?

In a post-season filled with close games, turnovers proved crucial – both teams had points to win their championship games and they were first and second in turnover differential in the play-offs.

Darnold struggled all season in this area, leading the league with 20 turnovers, and while Seattle didn’t have any in the playoffs, it will be an area the Patriots hope to exploit.

On the other hand, Drake Maye struggled in the playoffs with a case of fumbles – six of them in fact, losing three, after only eight all regular season.

The coaches will be preaching ball security to everyone all week.

Coaches: will experience count?

Speaking of coaches, they can make or break a game from the sidelines. Just ask Pete Carroll in that same game 11 years ago with that infamous decision to throw at the one-yard line that cost Seattle the Super Bowl against the Patriots.

Both head coaches have been incredible this season – Mike Macdonald is a defensive genius having now built a top-notch defense on previous teams in Baltimore and Seattle.

He’s young and there’s concern that with him still calling the defensive plays, it might all be a little too much in his first Super Bowl.

Mike Vrabel can become the first man to win a Super Bowl as a head coach and player on the same team, and he might have an ace up his sleeve in offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

Huge success with Tom Brady, this will be McDaniels’ 10th Super Bowl as coach. In the hardest game to keep your head, could this experience make the difference?

The Game Breakers: Super Bowls Won in the Trenches

New England Patriots defensive tackle Milton Williams before an NFL game — Milton Williams signed the largest contract in Patriots history last summer (Getty Images)

The defensive front seven are the NFL’s wrecking crews, tasked with, among other things, making life as uncomfortable as possible for opposing quarterbacks.

Both teams excel here with formidable units and we’ve already seen how dominance here can decide the outcome of a Super Bowl.

Harold Landry and K’Lavon Chaisson combined for 16 sacks in the regular season for New England, with defensive tackles Christian Barmore and Milton Williams bringing constant interior pressure, collapsing pockets at will.

The Patriots made Williams the highest-paid player in team history with a $104 million contract in free agency last year, following a dominant Super Bowl performance for the Eagles against Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs.

If he replicates that here, then Darnold is in trouble.

It’s Seattle, however, that might hold the advantage here since they bring in a four-headed monster of Leonard Williams, Uchenna Nwosu, Byron Murphy and DeMarcus Lawrence who have combined for 30 sacks this season.

Lawrence, who left Dallas to win the Super Bowl, has a sack and a forced fumble in both playoff games so far and has been particularly impressive, but it’s the danger running through the Seahawks’ defensive front that gives them the edge.

While the Patriots will make history by starting two rookies on their offensive line, Will Campbell and Jared Wilson – with left tackle Campbell, the man tasked with protecting Maye’s blind side, having some rookie struggles.

Maye has been sacked 15 times in the playoffs, the record is 19, and if the two rookies fail to protect him again, it could get ugly – think Patrick Mahomes’ two Super Bowl losses to the Eagles and Buccaneers.

Talented players scoring touchdowns grab the headlines, but Super Bowls are won and lost in the trenches — and this battle on Maye’s blind side might decide the entire debate.